The Smelly Car

Think back to elementary school....Think back to glue sticks and walking in lines..... Are you there?  There was always one kid in your class. He was the kid who didn't take the hygiene talk literally. He though it was metaphor for roll around in the mud. You know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about the smelly kid. You always steered clear of the smelly kid. It was more of a necessity than a preference. I mean the odor would cause you to burst into tears, and being the sensitive kid that you were, you didn't want to walk up to him and make him cry.

Fast forward 20 years. I'm sitting at a stop light in my 1997 Honda Accord. All of a sudden I smell it. You know the smell. It smells like someones care is about 30 milliseconds from catching fire. That day I'm sitting at the stop light and my nose is starting to burn from the stench. I'm looking around at the cars around me.

9 times out of 10 the smelly car is easy to spot. It's usually the car that was made in the 80's. It has at least 5 holes due to rust. There's enough smoke pouring out to make you think that someone just elected the pope. (oh yes, a pope reference.) This car usually has $500 rims. I'm not sure why. It's just always how it is.

so I look around me. New car, new car, new car. that's weird.

And then I see it.  There's a wisp of smoke coming out from under my hood.

The truth hit me like a ton of bricks. I Drive The Smelly Car.

That's when I realized that everyone was staring at me. Staring and holding their noses as if they were in a closet with someone who had passed gas. This little old lady next to me was starting to cry. I guess I can add her to the list of girls who I made cry. 

I sat and stared forward hoping that no one else would notice my smelly car. My light turned green and I drove off.

It turns out that I had an oil leak and it was burning off on the engine block. But that's not the only thing I've endured with my car.

I've had the shaky car - thanks to a loose engine mount. (I had a student think we were having an earthquake)
I've had the noisy car - thanks to a rattling muffler. (I stopped going through drive through because people would come and crowd around the window to see what was happening)
I've even had the "all of a sudden there is no power in the engine while I'm driving down the interstate" due to a bad O2 sensor. (let's just say, prayer life is enhanced now.)

Each of these things was an easy fix but it's just a realization that my car is getting up there and I'm going to have to move on to a newer one soon.

Any of you have an old car story??  Drop a comment about it below!